4 Upgrades to Optimise Your Home Entertainment Centre

With the holiday shopping season approaching, consumers are thinking about their Christmas wish lists, and home entertainment items rank high in demand. TVs are as usual the most wanted holiday item, a Consumer Technology Association survey shows. Smart speakers and wireless earbuds are also favored among consumers this year. If you’re thinking about upgrading your home entertainment center, now is a great time to start looking for deals. Here are four ideas for how to upgrade your home entertainment center this year.

Upgrade Your TV Screen

Over the past few years, 4K Ultra HD TV prices have dropped significantly, making 4K TV sets one of the best holiday bargain grabs. If you haven’t upgraded to a 4K TV yet, this is an excellent time to do it. Ultra HD TVs with 50-inch screens are expected to fall below $250 this shopping season, while 55-inch screens will drop below $350 and 65-inch units will be available for under $800. If you’ve got a bigger budget upwards of $1,500, there’s also deals on cutting-edge 4K TVs with features such as OLED and AI. For instance, the latest LG 4K TVs combine the bright, vibrant color of OLED with AI-powered scene-by-scene optimization, with support for cinema-quality Dolby Vision HDR.

Enhance Your Sound System

A great TV needs a great sound system to go with it. Today’s best home theater systems combine great sound with other cutting-edge features. For instance, the Onkyo HT-S7800 sound system comes with five speakers and a subwoofer, but can add two more speakers and another subwoofer to let you choose from 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound set-ups, while it also supports 4K video for optimal audio-visual integration. Onkyo’s system costs around $900 when it’s not on sale, but you can find top-of-the-line sound bar systems below $300. Or if you want to splurge, you can find high-end systems such as the $4,000 Bose LifeStyle 650, which combines superb surround sound and 4K compatibility with out-of-the-box support for streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora and Amazon Music, among other features.

Go Virtual

If you want to get the most out of your home entertainment center, especially if you’re a video game player, you’ll need a virtual reality headset. With 5G connectivity on the horizon, streaming virtual reality will soon be a reality, vastly expanding the range of VR content available. Today’s best VR headsets come in two main varieties. Tethered sets, which require support from a wired connection to a PC, provide higher quality experience, but also cost more, with better units ranging from below $250 to just under $800. Mobile sets, which integrate with a smartphone screen, come in just over $100.

Invest in a More Comfortable Chair

A quality home entertainment experience depends on support from a comfortable chair. Today’s home entertainment chairs come in a wide variety of specialized designs, including designs built for one person and for multiple people, as well as designs intended for movie viewing or for gaming. For instance, today’s best gaming chairs range from rocker gaming chairs that sit directly on the floor and cost under $50 to racing game chairs that simulate the feel of being in the driver’s seat and cost just under $580. In between are a variety of ergonomic chair designs that start just upwards of $100.

A 4K TV and a great surround sound system form the foundation of a cutting-edge home entertainment center. A VR headset lets you experience the latest immersive entertainment experience. A quality chair lets you enjoy your experience in comfort. If you’re thinking of upgrading your home entertainment center this holiday shopping season, put these essentials high on your wish list.